PKN To Expand Station Network With German BP Purchase

PKN Orlen SA is in talks with BP Plc, Europe's top oil company, to buy some of its gas stations in Germany, Hungary and Slovakia as Poland's top refiner and fuel retailer seeks to expand its operations abroad, Rzeczpospolita has reported, without citing anyone.

BP plans to sell some of the gas stations with the Aral brand name in the three countries. The transaction would be valued at as much as $400 million, the daily said, without specifying how many stations BP would sell.

PKN, which owns as many as 2,100 gas stations in Poland, plans to expand its operations outside of the country to boost profit. The company was earlier interested in stakes in refineries in Croatia, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Greece.

PKN said in June it will spend 2.5 billion zloty ($600 million) by 2005 to speed up the expansion of its chain of filling stations.